Photograph taken from a helicopter by
M.L. Coombs; courtesy of AVO/USGS.

Mar 14,
2007Alaskan Volcano Spits
Lightning Recent observations of volcanic
lightning add new support to the claims of electrical
theorists, that volcanoes are dynamically related to an
electric Earth.

The cause of
volcanic lightning is poorly understood. Traditionally,
geologists have assumed that the cause is similar to that of
lightning in thunderstorms: Tiny particles rub against each
other in a turbulent flow of air, and the larger particles,
which move slower, are charged to a different polarity from
the smaller particles, which move faster. The two groups of
particles would accumulate in separate regions, and the
voltage difference between them would produce lightning. But
this is an assumption that is not supported by theory or the
facts. It is part of a general confusion that continues to
haunt the sciences of geology and meteorology today.

New discoveries have deepened the mysteries of volcanic
lightning. A recent news story reports on a study into
volcanic electrical phenomena occurring in the eruption of
Mt. Augustine in Alaska. The website LiveScience.com writes:
"The lightning in a volcanic eruption occurs because the ash
and other debris blasting out of the volcano are highly
charged.... Though lightning was known to occur in the
debris clouds above the volcano, the researchers found an
earlier phase of volcanic lightning that had never before
been observed and occurred right at the volcano's mouth just
as it began erupting."

In other words, the lightning preceded the supposed “charge
separation” process from friction that has traditionally
been claimed to occur in billowing volcanic clouds. One of
the researchers described this phase of the volcanic
lightning as "big sparks maybe going just from the mouth of
the volcano up into the column that's shooting out of the
volcano, and then some lightning that went upward from the
top of the volcano up into the cloud that was forming."

The report is ambiguous in speaking of “highly charged”
debris rather than of moving ash and dust “separating
charge.” “Charged debris” is much closer to the language
that would be used by the electrical theorists. They
consider the electrical activity to be a consequence of a
pre-existing electric field that is short-circuited by a
conductive medium.

The observations in this study add direct support to the
claims of the electrical theorists, who emphasize that the
electric field of the Earth is an indispensable environment
for both volcanoes and volcanic lightning. As pointed out by
plasma scientist Anthony Peratt, magma is a conductive
plasma. A jet of magma will short-circuit the electric field
through which it is moving. So of course, it should not
surprise us to discover electrical arcing along the column
of erupting material. If measurements could be made, we
would expect to find the arcs connecting subterranean
currents with ionospheric currents.